


Forward

by symphorine



Series: a change that will not be undone [1]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen, cass varric and cullen mentioned, escape from haven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 20:20:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16981158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/symphorine/pseuds/symphorine
Summary: Aleth Trevelyan escaped the avalanche that fell on Haven - barely.And now she has to find her way through a blizzard.





	Forward

**Author's Note:**

> yes i am crawling up from the realm of the dead after a year of no published writing, into a new fandom. sorry for anyone who was waiting for new haikyuu fic
> 
> this is just a retelling from the bit between getting out of haven and getting to the encampment, in my inq's head (fem mage trevelyan)

After the first few hundred steps away from the cave, she stops looking back to make sure she isn't followed. She can't see anything except the snow swirling around her, and she isn't even sure she's still going forward. For all she knows, she might be going in circles, the blizzard covering her tracks before she reaches them again.

She bumps into the first tree, having long since given up on watching where she was going. It doesn't hurt, the cold has made her too numb, but it's something  _ else _ and deep, deep down, under the layer of freezing pain that's been going for so long she doesn't even notice it anymore, she thinks,  _ Good _ .

She tries to follow the trees, as much as she can. The tall pines are obscuring whatever path there may be, but at least the wind is not blasting in her face as much, and she can open her eyes.

She can't feel her toes, or her feet, and she's not sure there's any sensation left in her legs, but she walks. There's nothing else to do.

She passes long dead embers once, twice. Maybe they're from the people of Haven, they're not covered in snow – maybe she's imagining them, shadows cast on the white sludge she's struggling through. She can't go closer to look; too far, too much.

She leaves the trees behind. If it wasn't for the painfully sharp and loud way her heart is beating, she would assume she died hours ago.

She stumbles, her foot catching in a hidden rock. It's not the first time – is it? –but it knocks her down and she rolls several feet away, and when she gets up, she has no idea where to go. She's been looking at a mountain, she thinks – she hopes it's been the same every time she's managed to look up. She tries to find it again, but it's the middle of the night, now. She can barely see her own hands, the one with the mark glowing faintly under her glove.

She keeps going.

The howling wind calms down, a little, shifting to something reminiscent of voices around her. She thinks of Haven, of the Circle, sitting down to study in the library far from her peers, looking down at the war table, a smile from Cassandra, a friendly hug from her cousin when she visited home, the cold eyes of some of the templars, the book Varric had lent her, the sparks from her Tranquil friends' crafting–

Voices, closer, and light, too. Cassandra– Cullen?

Aleth opens her eyes just enough to see silhouettes moving towards her, and her body finally gives up.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on tumblr [@ symphorine](http://symphorine.tumblr.com) and on twitter [@ symph0rine](http://twitter.com/symph0rine)


End file.
